Ah! Update! Sorry about the lateness, guys. It's not Creative Muse I'm having issues with, it's Father Time and Mistress School who have my knickers in a knot. Boo!

((Wichsh!)) 'Back to work, slave!'

((meekly))'Yes, mistress'

naughty little munchkin: Yay! Glow-y orb guys!Well, I could have written out their real names, but they arefull of sounds I don't think I can evenwrite. So I wrote out what theirnames mean.No problem. I try to write the chapters sort of alternating betweenAiden and Danni's view, butI guess I was writing Danni quite a lot. I've tried to even it out a little more.

Tiger Lily21:Of course. Danni'ssuch a bother to write. She never wants to do what I want her to do, but I love her anyway. Yeah, I know I would have forgotten about it over andover and over again. It must have been so frustrating. I had to go over my work again and again, just to make sure it was consistant, and I didn't forget one.

rainkisser:It's almost more annoying than the clapper. "Lights on (IS!) Lights off (IS!)"I'll tell you later, as in a later chapter. I'm glad you recognized them as Lark's family. I was wondering if anyone would get the connection.

fell4adeadguy: It's just whattheir names mean. In actuality, they have long, complicated, non-English names.

Glaze: Yay! Happiness! Well, I'm glad I cankeep some of my secrets from you. You're so smart, you figure out my story almost before I figure out my story.

letylyf: I love Aiden. ((glompage)) I know what you mean. I had to spend a weekend away from my computer, and I nearly DIED! DIED, I TELL YOU!

Phillippa of the Phoenix:Not the wombats! I'm allergic to wombatth! Oh, great, there goeth my fathe, all thwelling up.

Uruviel Tinuviel: Poor Danni. You updated! It makes me so happy on the inside! I will explain all in a later chapter! I swear! I'm not one to leave loose ends. They annoy me (and make me write fanfictions XcD) It's kinda like that, as in it's long and complicated.

Here you go! Now the calculus homework calls me!

ARG! LET GO OF MY LEG!

-Lulai

Chapter Twenty-One: Back at Camp

Aiden and Danni walked silently until they reached the room where they had first entered. He paused, looking thoughtfully towards the exit of the waterfall before turning to Danni.

"How you holding up?" he asked.

"I'm feeling fine," Danni responded. "My feet don't hurt at all, thanks to those orbs." Her stomach let out an angry growl.

She blushed and ducked her head.

He gave her a grin. "We'll have some supper before we leave for the castle."

A sheepish smile crossed her lips. "Thanks."

He held out his hand to her and she took it. She was too weak not to. She knew, she knew, that he couldn't be hers, but she couldn't help but want to feel his large hand engulf her smaller one.

They walked through the waterfall together, coming out into the dying sun. Aiden squinted and shaded his eyes with his free hand. They had about two hours until sun down, he estimated.

"Let's built a fire and eat the rest of that bread and meat," he suggested.

Danni nodded.

After a filling meal of still good bread and slightly dry meat, they sat quietly, Danni staring into the dancing flames, Aiden studying the sword.

"What do you think they were?" Aiden asked her suddenly, startling her out of her thoughts.

"What?" she asked, looking at him. He didn't look up from his study of the blade.

"Those orbs," Aiden said. "I wonder what they were. Or who."

Danni's eyes went slightly unfocused with memory. "I think they were faeries."

"Really?"

"Yes," she said. "When they healed my foot, it reminded me of when Lark had healed my face."

That caught Aiden's attention. He looked up at her. "When did Lark heal your face?"

Danni shrugged, not really wanting to tell him, but not wanting to lie. "Before I came to the castle," she said hesitantly.

"Why did Lark heal your face?"

Danni looked away. "It was bruised," she mumbled.

"From?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Nothing," she lied, but tears filled her eyes, belying her words. She swallowed and tried to blink them away without letting Aiden see. No such luck.

He swore softly and came to kneel beside her. "Obviously not nothing," he said sympathetically, cupping her face in his hands.

His kind tone was her undoing. Tears began flowing freely down her cheeks.

"What happened Danni?" he prodded gently, wiping her tears away with his thumbs.

"He hit me!" she burst out. "He hit me, and he called my mother a whore." She took several deep breaths, trying vainly to curb her tears.

Shock was written plain on his face. What kind of beast would hit a girl like Danni? "Who?" he asked, a note of anger creeping into his voice.

"Gorner," she said, her voice breaking.

Rage exploded in Aiden's mind. The man was at least twice her size! He had to consciously refrain from clenching his fists. The urge to march to Theo's castle and beat the master black and blue was almost overwhelming.

Danni sniffed and rubbed her eyes angrily. "I'm such a watering-pot," she said, her voice filled with disgust. "I'm surprised I haven't died of dehydration."

"Nonsense," Aiden teased lightly, stroking the hair away from her face. "There is an entire waterfall right there to drink from."

A half-laugh, half-sob escaped her throat. "I suppose," she said. She gave him a watery smile. "And I got drenched enough yesterday."

He smiled back, his eyes soft. "That's the spirit."

Suddenly nervous, she made a pretence of yawning. "I'm very tired," she lied. "We should get some sleep as we have to leave early tomorrow."

"Of course," Aiden said, shuttering his gaze. His hand moved from her face to her shoulder. "Sleep well, Danni," he said softly.

She lay her head down and fell asleep surprisingly quickly.

Aiden, however, couldn't sleep. His worries and doubts kept him up, staring into the yellow flames as if he could somehow read the future in the glowing ashes.

He clenched his fists. He wished he had a plan. He always thought things through, but to be thrust in the middle of this with no preparation was unsettling to say the least. They had found the sword (by pure luck it seemed), but after they got into the castle, what then? Kill Vardon? The Lord was seemingly quite cunning, not to mention extremely powerful.

The flames danced over Danni's face. His expression softened. She was so hard on herself, but didn't seem to see her strengths. She walked so far yesterday without a word of complaint. Most women he knew wouldn't have lasted ten minutes of what she had been through.

His brows drew together as he remembered her outburst. Feelings of protectiveness rose within him. It was a good thing that he was so far away or else he'd give this Gorner a few bruises to remember him by. No one who beat on women deserved any better.

A smile crossed his lips at a thought. He was going to have to marry Danni.

His smile widened. Then anyone with even an unkind word to her would have to answer to him.

…

The wafting scent of bacon assailed Danni's nose and prodded her into wakefulness.

"What's that I smell?" she said, not opening her eyes.

"Bacon," Aiden replied, "hidden underneath an extra pair of pants. Would you like some?"

"Of course," Danni replied, sitting up and stretching. Aiden was hunkered over the fire, a small pan in the coals. The bacon sizzled enticingly.

She rolled back the blankets and stood up. Aiden produced the left over bread and some cheese that they had saved from their last meal and they had lovely sandwiches for breakfast.

As they packed up camp, they talked about nothing in particular, the weather, horses, the merits of raspberry ice drops over chocolate, (Danni for the former, Aiden for the latter), anything to avoid thinking about what they were going to have to do.

Aiden tied down the final saddle bag. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, suddenly frustrated.

"You don't have to do this," he said.

Danni snorted as she put the pan into the last bag. "Of course I do. The sourness of the raspberry drops taste quite superior to the over-sweetness of chocolate."

"No they don't," Aiden said, "but that wasn't to what I referred."

Danni looked at him, her face serious. "To what were you referring to then?"

Aiden flung his hand out. "This. All of this. I will not blame you if you want to leave. This isn't really your fight. Your family isn't trapped in there."

Danni cocked her head and looked at him as if he were missing some very important point. "But your family is. I couldn't just stand by and make you go through this on your own."

If Aiden could love her anymore, he would surely explode.

Danni barely had time to breathe before Aiden's mouth came down on hers, which was a good thing because he seemed as though he wasn't going to let her go in, oh, the next millennium. One minute she was having a rather serious conversation, and the next she was pressed up against his warmth, his mouth insistent on hers.

Her last coherent thought was that Aiden Fer Drewery sure knew how to kiss.

"You're very beautiful," Aiden said, finally breaking the kiss, "and I'd love to stand here and kiss you all day, but I have this evil Lord that's taken over my castle that I need to defeat."

Danni stared at him in befuddled shock. He could form sentences after that? "Buh…" she stammered.

He mounted Carpet in a strong sweep and pulled her up in front of him.

"And chocolate is far better than raspberry drops," he grinned at her speechlessness. "Fly like the wind, Carpet!" he said to the horse.

Carpet spread his wings, and they took off into the sky.